October 2010
1 post
My desk
Staring at my desk sometimes, filled as it is by lots of papers and projects, I am overwhelmed by how it serves as a graveyard of good intentions.
August 2010
2 posts
Work Life
I sometimes marvel at what a strange workplace I have. We do a lot of things here at the magazine that are perfectly appropriate in the context of our jobs that would be totally out of line elsewhere.
Assorted things from this past week:
a) A colleague expensed her hair cut.
b) I noticed another colleague spend an hour browsing DVF’s website for shoes.
c) A photographer had lying on his...
Field Study
I still get a kick out of watching people nearby read The Washingtonian unwittingly. Twice this week been able to study them reading the magazine “in the wild.” On Monday night, I was disappointed to see a girl flip right by my Capital Comment section. This morning at a coffee shop, I watched a guy pore carefully through the July Best Of section.
January 2009
6 posts
You're boring →
Citizen Journalism Gets a Cash Infusion →
You are an idiot if you sell your Apple stock... →
You're boring →
Hey Companies, Where Are Your iPhone Apps? →
Google Giveth, and Taketh Away: Google Video,... →
August 2008
1 post
Off to Denver
I wish I could always be as productive as I managed to be in the last 48 hours—I’ve finished a ton of chores/work. I’ve had the luxury of being home for the last 3.5 weeks, my longest time at home since last fall. It’s been a real luxury; I’ve loved doing things like grocery shopping and cooking at home, sitting outside reading on weekends, and actually seeing...
July 2008
7 posts
Sderot
Barack Obama was in Sderot on the Gaza border this week, which reminded me of my visit there just about a year ago. What an amazing trip.
Life Advice
One of my coworkers just walked in with this piece of advice: “If you don’t like paperwork, don’t get divorced.”
Fair enough. I’ll try to remember that.
Five Bites from Austin
In a nod to Amanda at Metrocurean and in recognition of just how much delicious food I consumed last week in Austin, I wanted to offer my own five bites:
1) Pulled pork bbq at Lambert’s Downtown Barbecue — Stubb’s may have the name, but the new-ish Lamberth’s is vastly superior.
2) Jerk chicken salad at Z’Tejas — The only vegetables I ingested during my entire visit to...
The Making of the President
Teddy White’s masterful series, The Making of the President, is one of the greatest works of literature of the 20th Century. I’m currently reading the third volume (1968). There’s more insight and truth packed into a single paragraph of writing than in most books I read today.
Early Adopting
I’m flying to Austin this week for a story and to go to two net/politics conferences. Since I love Continental and am on it back to IAH today, I thought I’d experiment with their paperless boarding pass. You can get a super-special barcode emailed to your PDA instead of printing a boarding pass. This morning I ran into two problems with it at DCA: First, the barcode wouldn’t load...
Sorry I've ignored you lately
I haven’t been traveling as much lately and so haven’t been Tumblr-ing as much — plus I’ve been writing the last few months and generally find that I have trouble doing both short-form and long-form at the same time. I’m back on the road this week and so back Tumblr-ing.
Nicco Mele my wife is now a columnist for the... →
June 2008
3 posts
Afghanistan
I just had a somewhat sad breakfast with my best friend from high school—he’s in the Army, West Point grad, and is about to ship out to Afghanistan with his unit for a deployment of between 12 and 15 months. He’s already been to Iraq for a year (where he came home with a Bronze Star) and his brother, who is two years older, has already been to Afghanistan once and Iraq twice. I...
Civilization
If anyone can propose something more civilized than sitting in an elegant hotel lobby, listening to a live piano, and sipping a mint julep—as I’m doing now—then I’m all ears.
Ribs
Last night, while in Memphis for the City & Regional Magazine Association annual meeting, I went with five other guys from various magazines to a hole-in-the-wall ribs joint on Beale Street. We asked the snarky waitress to describe the size of the “full rack,” she gestured to her own rack. We all ordered a half rack.
May 2008
18 posts
Just for the record....
I just hopped in a cab and ordered: “We’re going to Graceland.” [In Memphis for a magazine conference, just finished ribs at Rendezvous.]
New Haven
I’m just leaving Yale after three days at a conference and realized that I bought very little here. For those who know me, the complete list of my New Haven purchases (in chronological order) won’t be a surprise: milkshake, coffee and two donuts, milkshake, coffee and two donuts. That’s all. Healthy, huh?
I really am at sea →
One of my problems
I love being a generalist. I think there’s way too much specialization in life today. I understand the whole Paradox of Choice and the Long Tail and all that, but I think we’ve swung much too far in the other direction. Too many people today (especially in academia) don’t know enough about enough. One of the joys of being a journalist is the ability to jump from one topic to...
Quote of the Day
On a door of an Eisenhower era White House official: “Have you come with a solution or are you part of the problem?”
Too many early mornings
It’s a commentary on just how many early mornings I spend at Tryst that, when I rounded Calvert Street coming down to 18th and Columbia Road this morning at 7:25 a.m. and noticed a McDonalds truck unloading supplies, my first thought was: “Oh, they’re late and off schedule this week. That normally happens on Mondays and they’re normally done by 7 a.m.”
On Writing
Gore Vidal in the new issue of Esquire: “I went into a line of work in which jealousy is the principle emotion between practioners.”
Feasting
So I went to go see both Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra this week at the Shakespeare Theatre, so I was all up in Ancient Rome’s business. That underscored to me that I don’t know my Roman history as well as I’d like, so I spent yesterday reading Tom Holland’s excellent narrative history “Rubicon,” where I came across this great story: So evidently...
Quote of the Day
This was the quote of the day on the Bloomberg terminals today: ”Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.” —Frank Leahy Earth to Hillary? Reality is calling.
Quote of the Night
Chris Matthews: “Regular people want to hear that you share their enemies.”
G4
Now over the past three years, I’ve done just about every cable channel out there: MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, CNN International, even Al Jazeera English. Mostly none of my friends particularly care or notices. Then of course last night I made my debut on G4’s “Attack of the Show,” to talk about YouTube and the 2008 election. All my friends went nuts....
Helicopters
United Technologies has a ton of advertising up in the Metro right now for its helicopters, ships, and other major government-aimed products. One of my coworkers walked in today and said, “I hate all those ads. I’m never buying another helicopter from them.”
Hot and Not
Two quick reviews from the past week: Pizza Hut’s new “Pizza Mia” is one of the most foul, most disappointing pizzas I’ve ever tasted. It’s an obviously frozen pizza warmed up with insufficient cheese, sauce, and bread. All the more disappointing because I normally love their pizza. Starbucks’s new Pike Place Roast is much better than their old burnt coffee. I...
Last.fm
I’ve come over the course of this spring to love Last.fm and its eclectic music—each Sunday as I sit down and work for the day, I’ve been listening to a different random station. A few weeks ago it was Swedish pop music; today it’s German rock. I think I’m pretty far down in that Long Tail thingy.
Awe
I arrived back at the office today to discover that my computer has been replaced with a brand new 24” 2.4GHz Intel iMac. I’m just in awe right now. I spent a long time this morning just staring at the beautiful new screen. Wow. It makes my laptop look so puny and sad by comparison. Hmm….
April 2008
41 posts
Signs of the Apocalypse
At dinner last night, one of my friends said it seemed like we were living in End Times, what with all the troubling economic news each day. When I refilled my rental car this morning, I agreed. Gas here in LA is about $4 a gallon, meaning that just fill the half tank of my VW Jetta ran me $35! I can’t imagine Americans living the same way for much longer with numbers like that affecting...
LA Cold
I guess everything is relative. Today it’s “chilly” in LA, mid 60s, and as I sit here at Urth Caffe in West Hollywood having a last glass of their most delicious iced coffee before I head to the airport, they have their outdoor patio heaters running full blast. Where I come from, this would be a pleasant summer day.
Books
Anyone who has ever been to my apartment knows how much I love books. I spent much too much of this weekend digging around in used bookstores across LA and its environs and had several great finds that I’m now trying to stuff back into my suitcase—including a copy of Barry Goldwater’s 1962 foreign policy book, a real rarity, and a copy of one of Graham Greene’s only ventures into...
For the Record
There are few things in life as all-around delightful as the experience of Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day.
Just asking
How is LA such a random mix of upscale and seedy? I’ve never seen so many sketchy little motels and strip clubs intermixed with boutiques and fancy coffee shops.
Expectations, Part II
As a follow-up to this, the reactions are in on the blogosphere from my LA Times Book Festival and the reviews for Graff are *stunning*: Valley of the Shadow: “I didn’t know Graff; I despised Scheer, but I wanted to hear what they would have to say. Graff was civil and had some good insights.” Gay Patriot: “I thought Hugh and co-panelist American Enterprise Institute...
On Exceeding Expectations
On my panel today at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, I was the only one of the four panelists who got neither booed nor cheered upon introduction, which I would like to attribute to being markedly less known than the other three: Conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, former Bush speechwriter and National Review-r David Frum, and liberal talk radio host Rob Scheer. The most amusing...
Pundits
I’m in LA to do a panel on “Campaign 2008” at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival later today. This is my first visit to Los Angeles and I’m finding it quite strange to be driving around the city through all these neighborhoods and on all these streets that I recognize from literature, history, movies, etc.: the 405 and the 101, Sunset Boulevard, Mulholland Drive, Ventura...
On Writing
I’m at the LA Times Book Festival and listening to Gay Talese talk about writing. I loved this quote: “I don’t waste time writing about people I don’t respect.”
Airports
Pulling up to Dulles right now, I was thinking that I spend a lot of time in airports. This trip will mark my 20th flight of the year, which considering that my actual job doesn’t require travel, seems like a lot.
Question for the Day
Facebook and stalking. Where does one end and the other begin? Discuss.